91-year-old Wall Street giant inches closer to first Bitcoin ETF

Core Viewpoint - Morgan Stanley is progressing towards launching its first Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund (ETF) by filing a prospectus detailing the fund's structure [1] Group 1: ETF Overview - An ETF is an investment vehicle that pools capital from various investors to track the performance of an underlying asset, index, or basket of assets, and is traded on a traditional stock exchange [1] - A crypto ETF provides investors with indirect exposure to cryptocurrency without the need to directly buy or hold virtual assets [2] Group 2: Filing Details - Morgan Stanley filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 6 to launch Bitcoin and Solana (SOL) ETFs [3] - The amendment to the S-1 form filed with the SEC on March 4 identifies Coinbase Custody and the Bank of New York Mellon as Bitcoin custodians responsible for safeguarding the fund's holdings [3] Group 3: Custody and Security - The custodians will store Bitcoin in offline cold storage vaults, ensuring that private keys are disconnected from the internet to prevent theft during cyber attacks [4] - Although the Bitcoin custodians are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), they do carry insurance from private carriers, which is shared among customers and may not cover all losses in case of theft [5] Group 4: Valuation Method - Morgan Stanley will value the Bitcoin ETF's shares based on a pricing benchmark that aggregates trading activity across major spot trading exchanges [5]